IAAM recognizes the contribution of scientists towards the advancement of materials to global excellence with the ‘Researcher of the year’ award every year. Prof. Zhong Lin (Z. L.) Wang from Georgia Tech., USA and Prof. T. Venkatesan from Nano Core Research Center at National University of Singapore were recognized with this prestigious award in 2017 and 2018, respectively. This year, the award is presented to eminent physicist Prof. Enge Wang, Vice President of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and President Emeritus of Peking University, China, for his contribution towards the nanotechnology research and innovations. Advanced Materials Letters feels very honored and privileged to confer upon him the ‘Researcher of the Year’ award and dedicate the cover photo of December 2019 issue for his several years of diligence and uncountable achievements.
In-soil Biodegradation Behavior of Chitosan-Coated Phosphorylated Starch Films
Danila Merino*, Vera A. Alvarez
Grupo de Materiales Compuestos Termoplásticos (CoMP), Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales (INTEMA), Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata (UNMdP) y Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Av. Colón 10850, (7600) Mar del Plata, Argentina.
Adv. Mater. Lett., 2019, 10 (12), pp 907-912
DOI: 10.5185/amlett.2019.0017
Publication Date (Web): Nov 01, 2019
Copyright © 2019 VBRI Press
E-mail: danila.merino@fi.mdp.edu.ar
Novel starch-based films were previously proposed as agricultural mulches and their main properties were critically addressed. In this report, the effects of chemical modification by crosslinking (phosphorylation) and surface functionalization with chitosan on corn starch-films biodegradability were studied. The biodegradability assay was performed in soil using a professional substrate. The biodegradation and disintegration of samples were followed by measuring their weight loss (WL), water sorption (WS) and changes in appearance (by photographs). Additionally, changes in surface morphology at microscopic level were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), while structural and chemical changes were evaluated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Results indicate that neither the chemical modification by phosphorylation, nor the chitosan-functionalization of the surface produced changes in films biodegradation time, which is a positive result. All materials degrade almost completely in three months following a three-step mechanism that involves plasticizer leaching, microbial development, bio-erosion of the surface and the starch molecular weight diminution. © VBRI Press.
biodegradable, environmentally friendly, fungal attack, sustainable agriculture.
Researcher of the Year 2019: Professor Enge Wang – A Legendary Researcher of Atomistic World
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